Devanagari
यस्य राष्ट्रे पुरे चैव भगवान् यज्ञपूरुष: ।
इज्यते स्वेन धर्मेण जनैर्वर्णाश्रमान्वितै: ॥ १८ ॥
Verse text
yasya rāṣṭre pure caiva
bhagavān yajṣa-pūruṣaḥ
ijyate svena dharmeṇa
janair varṇāśramānvitaiḥ
Synonyms
yasya
—
whose
;
rāṣṭre
—
in the state or kingdom
;
pure
—
in the cities
;
ca
—
also
;
eva
—
certainly
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
yajṣa
—
pūruṣaḥ — who is the enjoyer of all sacrifices
;
ijyate
—
is worshiped
;
svena
—
their own
;
dharmeṇa
—
by occupation
;
janaiḥ
—
by the people
;
varṇa
—
āśrama — the system of eight social orders
;
anvitaiḥ
—
who follow .
Translation
The king is supposed to be pious in whose state and cities the general populace strictly observes the system of eight social orders of varṇa and āśrama, and where all citizens engage in worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead by their particular occupations.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In such a King’s state and cities, the Supreme Lord, master of sacrifices, is worshipped by people executing their individual duties according to varṇāśrāma.
Instead of varṇāśramānvitaiḥ sometimes varṇāśramātmakaih is seen. The minds (ātma) of the people are absorbed in varṇāśrama.
Purport
The state’s duty and the citizen’s duty are very nicely explained in this verse. The activities of the government head, or king, as well as the activities of the citizens, should be so directed that ultimately everyone engages in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The king, or government head, is supposed to be the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is therefore supposed to see that things go on nicely and that the citizens are situated in the scientific social order comprised of four
varṇas
and four
āśramas.
In the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa
it is stated that unless people are educated or situated in the scientific social order comprised of four
varṇas
(
brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya
and
śūdra
) and four
āśramas
(
brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha
and
sannyāsa
), society can never be considered real human society, nor can it make any advancement towards the ultimate goal of human life. It is the duty of the government to see that things go on in terms of
varṇa
and
āśrama.
As stated herein,
bhagavān yajṣa-pūruṣaḥ:
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the
yajṣa-pūruṣa.
As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(5.29)
:
bhoktāraṁ yajṣa-tapasām.
Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate purpose of all sacrifice. He is also the enjoyer of all sacrifices; therefore He is known as
yajṣa-pūruṣa.
The word
yajṣa-pūruṣa
indicates Lord Viṣṇu or Lord Kṛṣṇa, or any Personality of Godhead in the category of
viṣṇu-tattva.
In perfect human society, people are situated in the orders of
varṇa
and
āśrama
and are engaged in worshiping Lord Viṣṇu by their respective activities. Every citizen engaged in an occupation renders service by the resultant actions of his activities. That is the perfection of life. As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.46)
:
yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ
yena sarvam idaṁ tatam
sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya
siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ
“By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection.”
Thus the
brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, śūdras
and
vaiśyas
must execute their prescribed duties as these duties are stated in the
śāstras.
In this way everyone can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. The king, or government head, has to see that the citizens are thus engaged. In other words, the state or the government must not deviate from its duty by declaring that the state is a secular one, which has no interest in whether or not the people advance in
varṇāśrama-dharma.
Today people engaged in government service and people who rule over the citizens have no respect for the
varṇāśrama-dharma.
They complacently feel that the state is secular. In such a government, no one can be happy. The people must follow the
varṇāśrama-dharma,
and the king must see that they are following it nicely.